Bubba Wade is a complex cowboy.
He is a former state representative who gives his opinion about the need for a warning system at the Albert Pike Recreation Area while resting at home in a medical bed because his health is deteriorating.
Doctors recently told his family the 88-year-old could live another three weeks or three months.
He has been emotionally broken and badly bent by life.
But he is still thinking like a state representative, wanting to solve public problems.
Bubba was a stalwart politician for 18 years, serving Southwest Arkansas in the state Legislature.
What emotionally broke the cowboy was the Albert Pike flash flood in 2010.
With his health problems, he knows his time is limited to see governments work together to provide a warning system.
It's personal for him. He lost family members from three generations in the flood.
Bubba had enough personal tragedy to break any cowboy in 2010.
On March 31, 2010, his wife, Barbara, died at their ranch home 11 miles east of Ashdown, Ark., under hospice care after a lengthy illness. They were married 59 years.
Then on June 11, 2010, in the Albert Pike Recreation Area flash flood, Wade's granddaughter Leslie, 23; great-grandson, Kaden, 3; and former daughter-in-law, Sherry, drowned in the Little Missouri River.
Another grandson, Randall Wade, and a granddaughter, Haley Wade, were rescued from the floodwaters in the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains.
The river rose more than 20 feet in less than four hours, killing 20 people.
He is frustrated because little has been accomplished on a warning system, which he said should have been installed years before the 2010 flood.
But he understands the paradox of politics.
In 1980, Bubba warned then-Gov. Bill Clinton he would lose his re-election bid. Clinton lost, and Wade helped him get re-elected two years later.
He now refers to Bill and Hillary Clinton as the "Bill and Hillary Regime."
Bubba also knows the sense of politics.
He is frustrated by the irony of Albert Pike. The drawback is the funding for studies and construction of a warning system. But Albert Pike creates revenue as a recreational destination, he said.
"It seems so sinful that our state can't find the dollars," Bubba said.
Tourism is second to industry in producing tax revenues for Arkansas, he said.
Bubba helped pass legislation establishing the recreation area. One of his allies in preserving the environmental landscape was Jim Walton, brother of Walmart founder Sam Walton.
"We ought to have a warning device. It could be warning sirens, and with the technology today, it could be hooked up with the National Weather Service," Bubba said.
With the flood, officials had six to eight hours to warn people, said Bubba, who was a high school dropout and joined the Marines.
Wade's granddaughter who survived the flood said the river was only 2 feet deep when they arrived. About 2:30 a.m. June 11, she was awakened when rising floodwaters moved the car. Within a few hours, the river had risen 20 feet.
"They got no warning whatsoever. No ranger came by," Bubba said.
Haley climbed a little higher to escape the water and floating debris. When the water started going down, Haley was pulled away from the tree and rescued. Her arms, knees and legs were covered in bruises.
Bubba speaks more cautiously than he used to and stares at the wall across from his bed. There a small, rugged cross he made from bois d'arc wood hangs above family photographs. One photo is of his family standing around a four-wheeler with Bubba sitting inside the cab.
"I just got out of the water," Bubba said.
He explained he had been baptized in the Little River. The Cowboy Church helped with the ceremony, but he couldn't remember what year.
"I've always loved the Lord, and it seemed real appropriate to make a symbolic sign. I came out of the water and spotted this timber," Bubba said.
The bois d'arc timber doesn't rot. He used hay twine on the center of the cross to bind it.
As another diversion, Bubba can see dogs and horses out his window.
An Australian shepherd named Madison lies near the front door. Part of Madison's left rear leg had to be amputated after the paw was caught in a trap. Despite having only three legs, Madison moves freely and checks out visitors.