diff --git a/remote/client.go b/remote/client.go
index a0866b4cb..9c7ab2c43 100644
--- a/remote/client.go
+++ b/remote/client.go
@@ -17,8 +17,8 @@ import (
 // RemoteStatePayload is used to return the remote state
 // along with associated meta data when we do a remote fetch.
 type RemoteStatePayload struct {
-	MD5 []byte
-	R   io.Reader
+	MD5   []byte
+	State []byte
 }
 
 // GetState is used to read the remote state
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ func GetState(conf *terraform.RemoteState) (*RemoteStatePayload, error) {
 
 	// Create the payload
 	payload := &RemoteStatePayload{
-		R: buf,
+		State: buf.Bytes(),
 	}
 
 	// Check if this is Consul
@@ -88,11 +88,7 @@ func GetState(conf *terraform.RemoteState) (*RemoteStatePayload, error) {
 			}
 
 			// Setup the reader to pull the value from Consul
-			payload.R = bytes.NewReader(values[0].Value)
-
-			// Generate the MD5
-			hash := md5.Sum(values[0].Value)
-			payload.MD5 = hash[:md5.Size]
+			payload.State = values[0].Value
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -104,9 +100,9 @@ func GetState(conf *terraform.RemoteState) (*RemoteStatePayload, error) {
 		}
 		payload.MD5 = md5
 
-	} else if _, ok := payload.R.(*bytes.Buffer); ok {
+	} else {
 		// Generate the MD5
-		hash := md5.Sum(buf.Bytes())
+		hash := md5.Sum(payload.State)
 		payload.MD5 = hash[:md5.Size]
 	}
 
diff --git a/remote/client_test.go b/remote/client_test.go
index fc639a091..9a4d871a1 100644
--- a/remote/client_test.go
+++ b/remote/client_test.go
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ package remote
 import (
 	"bytes"
 	"crypto/md5"
-	"io"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/http/httptest"
 	"strings"
@@ -63,9 +62,7 @@ REQ:
 	}
 
 	// Check the body
-	var buf bytes.Buffer
-	io.Copy(&buf, payload.R)
-	if string(buf.Bytes()) != "testing" {
+	if string(payload.State) != "testing" {
 		t.Fatalf("Bad body")
 	}
 
@@ -151,9 +148,7 @@ func TestGetState(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 
 		if tc.Body != nil {
-			buf := bytes.NewBuffer(nil)
-			io.Copy(buf, payload.R)
-			if !bytes.Equal(buf.Bytes(), tc.Body) {
+			if !bytes.Equal(payload.State, tc.Body) {
 				t.Fatalf("bad: %#v", payload)
 			}
 		}