Thanks to everyone that has commented on this thread, it has helped give me some ideas what may be wrong with my Bobbed Deuce. I've looked around the rest of the forum and still can't seem to figure my particular problem out.
Sometime ago, I had installed a cheap keyed start instead of the push button. I was living in Houston at the time and was worried about some of the neighbor kids.
Anyway, the key only had 2 positions and I used it as a direct replacement for the push button. That would mean that once you started it, you had to turn the key back to disengage the starter.
I recently drove it 850 miles while I was moving from Houston to Colorado. In the last 30 miles, I had stopped to top up all my trucks and talk to my wife. It was dark and I was tired. I should have just left the truck where it was and come back after I'd slept, but I didn't... (stupid) Instead, I left the key in the start position and started to drive out of town. As I got out to the edge of town and spun up the RPM's, the headlights and dash lights got brighter for a second, there was a loud pop and then all the electrical quit. Of course, the engine still ran, but I haven't been able to figure the electrical out since then. I went down to the shop a couple of weeks later and found both (brand new) batteries dead. After charging them, I tried hooking them up again and got a huge arc followed by a very hot terminal that I barely managed to disconnect. Now, at least I know there's a short in the system. I'm probably going to replace the starter and solenoid to begin with, but I thought I'd air my own stupidity here in the hopes that someone can confirm or correct my thinking. Thanks in advance.