Or do you mean to say that Santa Barbara is in the sprawl of LA?
Basically, yeah. But, gosh, Santa Barbara is a fabulous city and the beaches there are grand. You might keep your options flexible. If you feel up to it, it might be worth the traffic to get here to start your trip back up the coast. But, if you're feeling like you can't handle getting near LA traffic, you could take 58 from Bakersfield to Cambria. You will be missing some scenic views if you do this but there will be more awesome stuff up ahead. Unfortunately, like life, roadtrips mean you sometimes have to make hard choices.

It is indeed a whole lotta distance to cover to get back near LA, so maybe we'll decide to nix it and stay 2 days in Napa/Sonoma instead...
This would be a lovely alternative.