Taking a long drive from LA to San Francisco in Sept on Hway 1 / Big Sur.

Are there any affordable lodging that's fairly decent that you can recommend ? Affordable -- 15-50US dollars a night ? Are there any YHAs / hostels there ?

do a search for hostels. this is a very expensive area and hotels are usually in excess of $100. or, you would have to resort to camping.

There is somewhere in CA that has lodging for $15? I think it would be hard to find lodging for the $50 which is your upper end.

If you want to camp, reserve you site now, and bring you rain gear.

"affordable" lodging is available south of Big Sur at Cambria or San Simeon (last I was through there, there was een a motel 6!), and at the north end in Monterey. Camping being the only "cheap" option in the middle. Everything else (Big Sur or Carmel) is very pricey.

According to their website, you can get a room at the Ragged Point Inn in Big Sur for $89-$189. Though I've never been there, it comes highly recommended and from the pictures on the web, it looks glorious. Now, how you go about getting that $89 room is up to you, but if you want a place on the cliffs with fantastic views, this is about as good as you're going to get. It also has a good restaurant. You might be able to find a motel in the $60 range if you go to www.bigsurcalifornia.org that would be in the "fairly decent category."