Hi - I am planning to drive this September the well documented loop San Fransisco - Big Sur / Route 1 - Las Vegas - back along the east side of the Sierras - Yosemite - Lake Taho - Nappa and back to San Fran. Being retired we plan on taking 3 weeks to do this and whilst I have read most of the posts on this great site regarding this route, most people seem to be in a hurry! My problem is ensuring I don't reach Las Vegas (LV) at a weekend and I would love to take a slow but interesting route from San Simeon (Hurst Castle) to LV taking 4 days. My initial thoughts were to stick to the coast stopping at say Alvila Beach area then Santa Barbara then cutting inland to Barstow (I have been to LA before and have no desire to get any closer to it than Santa Barbara unless its well worth the effort) and then taking half a day or so to finish off the leg to LV arriving early afternoon. I even wondered if taking the windy Angeles national forest road but can't see any accommodation stops on this mountain road.
So if anyone has any ideas on a very pretty / decent attractions / interesting places to stay the night, slow route to LV I would love to hear about it.
Many thanks
Richard