Shane Shifflett/The Bay Citizen

Arthur Cascio and his truck in Big Sur

“I figure since I’ve been occupying, I might as well keep on doing it out here,” Cascio, 44, said.

The open space and clean air were a welcome change for Cascio after the squalor of the camp at Justin Herman Plaza, where homeless and mentally ill people have congregated.

“They don’t know how to interact with people,” Cascio said. “Urinating in the corner is normal for them.”

Cascio, originally from Mt. Shasta, Calif., is occupying at a slower pace now. He doesn’t have to worry about being removed by riot police from his folding chair by the side of Highway 1 (he hasn’t seen the sheriff since arriving). And he can take time to discuss the movement’s ideas with locals. Last Saturday, he said, half a dozen protesters occupied a space down the road from the town's lone post office.

“There was a family with two children there,” Cascio said. “They’re about unfair distribution of wealth because it prevents his kids from getting a good education.”

Big Sur is just one stop for Cascio as he travels down the coast to escape winter’s chill. Along the way, he is pondering Occupy Wall Street’s message and how best to express it.

“I don’t got solutions, but I got the problems nailed down,” he said.