1990 Ford Ranger XLT 2WD 2.3L 5-Speed Manual

Ranger fired right up and i drove it to my gym, after working out came out and turned the key and nothing happened. Gauges did not even flicker, no radio, no blower, no lights. Assumed my battery died so got a buddy to come over and hookup jumper cables and it fired up after 10 minutes. Got home hooked battery to charger and it read 85% charge (thought that was weird) charged it to 100% and figured case closed. Couple days later got in my truck drove to gym, worked out, came out turned key and again nothing. Buddy tried to jump it but no dice nothing changed. So got a ride home then went and bought new battery installed it and turned key, nothing not even a flicker (battery was at 98%). Drove back to store got a new starter switch installed that and tried again nothing. Figured at this point i was not going to get this fixed in parking lot so got my other truck and my dad and hooked it up to tow it home. My dad turned key to first indent to unlock the wheel and then used the clutch to help keep the truck tensioned and help slow down. Midway my dad called saying all of a sudden everything turned on (gauges, blower motor, lights,...) so he tried turning it to start and it fired right up. Got it home tried starting it the next day and of course again nothing. Assumed it was possibly the clutch safety switch, so bought one installed it and tried the key, nothing. Got a new ignition switch (the sliding switch on the bottom of steering column) and turned key and again nothing not even a flicker of the gauges or anything. Only electrical stuff that is working is the dome light when door is open and the door dinger saying the key is in the ignition. At this point i am out of ideas and tired of throwing parts at it. Any ideas on what i might be missing?