I forget what Cowboy star it was that originally sang it, but I have been humming "I'm back in the saddle again" for a couple days now. After almost a year of hurry up and wait, we finally have forward progress.
My father in law, gotta love him, came over and taught me how to weld- and voila... a bumper. He did most of the welding (mine were pretty sorry, to say the least), but it is exactly what I was going for. Got all the rust cleaned off (again), painted with rust preventative, a coat of primer, and a coat of anti- rust paint to finish. We opted for the grey instead of black since we really don't have a clue what the finished tin will look like.
I am reading up on how to do a brake job before I start with reconstruction of the trailer itself, although I am chomping at the bit to get these walls out of my garage that I assembled over a year ago. More to come :)