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If you want to get to Ventura/Santa Barbara from I-40 without going through LA, you could do this:
Take I-15 to Victorville, then CA-18/CA-138/Pearblossom Hwy to CA-14. Take that to the Sand Canyon Rd exit and take Soledad Canyon Rd through Santa Clarita to Magic Mountain Pkwy to I-5. Take that north 1 exit to CA-126. There's plenty of lodging in Victorville and Santa Clarita.
glc: Thanks. We did end up using the Pearblossom Highway (and it wouldn't have occured to me to do so if you hadn't posted this), but we took the Freeways around Santa Clarita since we ended up overnighting there; the hotel we used was well south of the Magic Mountain Parkway.
Big Sur was well worth the few days we spent there. It's a very different place, especially if you scratch beneath the surface just a bit.
We also decided to use the few extra days we have in California to run down to Sequoia and Kings Canyon, do a quick loop through Yosemite, and then head over Tioga Pass to Mono Lake and up 395 to Tahoe. The weather is looking really good for it.
--Jon