After yesterday’s display, I was in a hurry to figure out if I could even get the truck started. I rolled it further down the street to get the Xterra in front of it for another jumpstart attempt. Seems I left the door slightly ajar last night, so the battery was entirely knackered.
For a while, no signs of life. I was worried I’d killed him. Then in desperation, I did a direct battery-to-battery connection (do not do this) and tried once more. Success! An exhausted rumble, one more covid-cough of smoke, and the sound of a running engine if somewhat wobbly.
Waiting 
Winning
I went for a resurrection drive — first along my running route through the neighborhood, then five laps of I35’s frontage u-turns between Airport and 290 — about fifteen miles total. Once I was satisfied that I’d gathered enough electricity and nothing more had spewed out of the tailpipe or engine bay, I wandered over to a wash.
Before Bubblegummy After
Good as new. More or less. Once back home, I did an inspection of the tires and a little fiddling with the lights, to remind myself what was broken about them.
For their age, the tires look surprisingly good, but they’ve only got 13,000 miles on them. The light situation is weird, because of course it is. Since I swapped out that front-right blinker, the blinkers work fine if the headlights are off. If I turn the headlights on, the right-turn signals (front and back) turn on and stay on.
Faith restored. But much is still needed.