It's been a few months since I last played but decided to jump back into it because I really get the urge to continue the punishment upon myself.
So I finally found a trader on day 34 of my playthrough, only 2km from my base of operations as well, I was rather disappointed to discover that his only goods were ammunition and it was for weapons that I didn't have. Later I discovered the bartering station which I find is a really nice feature, however I'd like to see it expanded upon even more, maybe adding more resources that are hard to gather for early level players, things like aloe, feathers, workbench tools, sinew, maybe a few decent melee weapons at a hefty cost, things to give players a better option than [grind > level > build forge > build anvil > find hammer > unlock weapons] just to build a single low quality weapon. I feel like this mimics the reality of bartering, for example in colonial North America the natives would trade pelts for muskets so that they could more efficiently hunt which meant more pelts for the traders.
Anyway, just my 2 cents. Really hope to see This mod alive again some day, in the meanwhile I'll be enjoying the current state of this mod anyway.