diff --git a/lib/persistent_selenium/browser.rb b/lib/persistent_selenium/browser.rb
index b91c122..11ed202 100644
--- a/lib/persistent_selenium/browser.rb
+++ b/lib/persistent_selenium/browser.rb
@@ -26,7 +26,10 @@ module PersistentSelenium
 
     def set_app_host(host)
       @app_host = host.dup
+      load_splash_page
+    end
 
+    def load_splash_page
       browser.navigate.to("data:text/html;base64,#{Base64.encode64(starting_page)}")
     end
 
@@ -40,6 +43,10 @@ module PersistentSelenium
           # instead.
         end
       end
+
+      GC.enable
+      GC.start
+      GC.disable
     end
 
     def starting_page
diff --git a/lib/persistent_selenium/driver.rb b/lib/persistent_selenium/driver.rb
index 3ef574f..93d8993 100644
--- a/lib/persistent_selenium/driver.rb
+++ b/lib/persistent_selenium/driver.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
 require 'persistent_selenium'
+require 'capybara/selenium/driver'
+
+# make sure these classes exist on this end
+[ Selenium::WebDriver::Error::StaleElementReferenceError, Selenium::WebDriver::Error::UnhandledError, Selenium::WebDriver::Error::ElementNotVisibleError ]
 
 Capybara.register_driver :persistent_selenium do |app|
   require 'drb'