rick, i just moved from oklahoma city to pueblo colorado, the law regarding trailer lights is they are not required if you can visibly see the tail lights of the vehicle doing the towing, if they are not visible, then trailer lights are required.
In our region, that "may" be true for daytime only, and a red flag must be attached to the rear most part of the load.
Nighttime would be illegal, since the back most part of the load, would not be visible.
My advice, you would be asking for a pull-over, and still at risk for a ticket.