diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 8a50b99..1dc77e9 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -23,4 +23,7 @@ _testmain.go
 
 # tmp
 *#
-.#*
\ No newline at end of file
+.#*
+
+# test files
+/testfiles/Test*
diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index e54fb88..0000000
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
-language: go
-
-go:
-  - 1.0
-  - 1.1
-  - 1.2
-
-install:
-  - go get github.com/fvbock/uds-go/set
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/branch.go b/branch.go
index 699871a..186040f 100644
--- a/branch.go
+++ b/branch.go
@@ -40,11 +40,12 @@ func (b *Branch) add(entry []byte) (addedBranch *Branch) {
 	if b.LeafValue == nil && len(b.Branches) == 0 {
 		if len(entry) > 0 {
 			b.LeafValue = entry
-		} else {
-			// something came in but we already have branches for it
-			// so the tail was the current branches index but no value
-			// to push. just mark the current idx position as End
 		}
+		// else {
+		//   something came in but we already have branches for it
+		//   so the tail was the current branches index but no value
+		//   to push. just mark the current idx position as End
+		// }
 		b.setEnd(true)
 		addedBranch = b
 		return
@@ -215,7 +216,7 @@ func (b *Branch) delete(entry []byte) (deleted bool) {
 		if len(b.Branches) == 0 && b.Count == 0 {
 			b.LeafValue = nil
 		} else if len(b.Branches) == 1 && b.Count == 0 {
-			b = b.pullUp()
+			b.pullUp()
 		}
 		return true
 	}
@@ -248,10 +249,7 @@ func (b *Branch) delete(entry []byte) (deleted bool) {
 /*
  */
 func (b *Branch) has(entry []byte) bool {
-	if b.getBranch(entry) != nil {
-		return true
-	}
-	return false
+	return b.getBranch(entry) != nil
 }
 
 func (b *Branch) hasCount(entry []byte) (bool, int64) {
@@ -443,7 +441,6 @@ func (b *Branch) setEnd(flag bool) {
 		}
 	}
 	b.End = flag
-	return
 }
 
 func (b *Branch) String() string {
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9889751
--- /dev/null
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+module github.com/glaslos/trie
+
+go 1.21.2
+
+require github.com/fvbock/uds-go v0.0.0-20150825055119-e378dd1356b9
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8f34aaf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+github.com/fvbock/uds-go v0.0.0-20150825055119-e378dd1356b9 h1:PI8D0UwtC04m+FUaqB8RPOeuicjr896/afA5jlvpojA=
+github.com/fvbock/uds-go v0.0.0-20150825055119-e378dd1356b9/go.mod h1:J+KQJ2ZNVvd2gibb4nuUJbXVCSdKCFGn0ch/FI9xPlw=
diff --git a/trie.go b/trie.go
index c59bb40..4e4f4c1 100644
--- a/trie.go
+++ b/trie.go
@@ -1,15 +1,10 @@
 package trie
 
 import (
-	"bufio"
-	"bytes"
 	"encoding/gob"
-	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
-	"log"
 	"os"
-	"time"
 )
 
 type Trie struct {
@@ -149,47 +144,34 @@ using encoding/gob.
 The Trie itself can currently not be encoded directly because gob does not
 directly support structs with a sync.Mutex on them.
 */
-func (t *Trie) DumpToFile(fname string) (err error) {
+func (t *Trie) DumpToFile(fname string) error {
 	t.Root.Lock()
 	entries := t.Members()
 	t.Root.Unlock()
 
-	buf := new(bytes.Buffer)
-	enc := gob.NewEncoder(buf)
-	if err = enc.Encode(entries); err != nil {
-		err = errors.New(fmt.Sprintf("Could encode Trie entries for dump file: %v", err))
-		return
-	}
-
 	f, err := os.Create(fname)
 	if err != nil {
-		err = errors.New(fmt.Sprintf("Could not save dump file: %v", err))
-		return
+		return fmt.Errorf("could not save dump file: %w", err)
 	}
 	defer f.Close()
 
-	w := bufio.NewWriter(f)
-	_, err = w.Write(buf.Bytes())
-	if err != nil {
-		err = errors.New(fmt.Sprintf("Error writing to dump file: %v", err))
-		return
+	enc := gob.NewEncoder(f)
+	if err := enc.Encode(entries); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("could encode Trie entries for dump file: %w", err)
+
 	}
-	// log.Printf("wrote %d bytes to dumpfile %s\n", bl, fname)
-	w.Flush()
-	return
+	return nil
 }
 
 /*
 MergeFromFile loads a gib encoded wordlist from a file and Add() them to the `Trie`.
 */
 // TODO: write tests for merge
-func (t *Trie) MergeFromFile(fname string) (err error) {
+func (t *Trie) MergeFromFile(fname string) error {
 	entries, err := loadTrieFile(fname)
 	if err != nil {
-		return
+		return err
 	}
-	log.Printf("Got %v entries\n", len(entries))
-	startTime := time.Now()
 	for _, mi := range entries {
 		b := t.GetBranch(mi.Value)
 		if b != nil {
@@ -203,51 +185,43 @@ func (t *Trie) MergeFromFile(fname string) (err error) {
 			b.Unlock()
 		}
 	}
-	log.Printf("merging words to index took: %v\n", time.Since(startTime))
-	return
+	return nil
 }
 
 /*
 LoadFromFile loads a gib encoded wordlist from a file and creates a new Trie
 by Add()ing all of them.
 */
-func LoadFromFile(fname string) (tr *Trie, err error) {
-	tr = NewTrie()
+func LoadFromFile(fname string) (*Trie, error) {
+	tr := NewTrie()
 	entries, err := loadTrieFile(fname)
 	if err != nil {
-		return
+		return tr, err
 	}
-	log.Printf("Got %v entries\n", len(entries))
-	startTime := time.Now()
 	for _, mi := range entries {
 		b := tr.Add(mi.Value)
 		b.Count = mi.Count
 	}
-	log.Printf("adding words to index took: %v\n", time.Since(startTime))
-
-	return
+	return tr, nil
 }
 
-func loadTrieFile(fname string) (entries []*MemberInfo, err error) {
-	log.Println("Load trie from", fname)
+func loadTrieFile(fname string) ([]*MemberInfo, error) {
 	f, err := os.Open(fname)
 	if err != nil {
-		err = errors.New(fmt.Sprintf("Could not open Trie file: %v", err))
-	} else {
-		defer f.Close()
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("could not open Trie file: %w", err)
+	}
+	defer f.Close()
 
-		buf := bufio.NewReader(f)
-		dec := gob.NewDecoder(buf)
-		if err = dec.Decode(&entries); err != nil {
+	var entries []*MemberInfo
+	dec := gob.NewDecoder(f)
+	if err = dec.Decode(&entries); err != nil {
+		if err != nil {
 			if err == io.EOF && entries == nil {
-				log.Println("Nothing to decode. Seems the file is empty.")
-				err = nil
-			} else {
-				err = errors.New(fmt.Sprintf("Decoding error: %v", err))
-				return
+				return entries, nil
 			}
+			return entries, fmt.Errorf("decoding error: %w", err)
 		}
 	}
 
-	return
+	return entries, nil
 }
diff --git a/trie_test.go b/trie_test.go
index 72af81a..321ee96 100644
--- a/trie_test.go
+++ b/trie_test.go
@@ -900,6 +900,9 @@ func TestTrieDumpToFileLoadFromFile(t *testing.T) {
 		n++
 	}
 	err := tr.DumpToFile("testfiles/TestDumpToFileLoadFromFile")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Error(err)
+	}
 
 	loadedTrie, err := LoadFromFile("testfiles/TestDumpToFileLoadFromFile")
 	if err != nil {