After a lifetime of traveling for the company, the hotels/motels are all the same. I was allowed to stay at Embassy Suites and the like, but its still a strange bed, lousy food and nothing to do but work, and nobody to shoot the bull with. Rental cars and living out of a single suitcase. Kind of like living in an elevator. Stand there, eyes forward, and don't say anything. Without an RV, the only thing that would change is trading work for "not work", whatever that is.
In the RV, I go where I want to, when I want to, and as long as I want to. I sleep when I want to, eat when and what I want to, and move on when I want to. Can't beat that with a stick.
As far as RVing up the coast of California, you can be pretty sure you'll never spend more money per day, fight more traffic, or see more concrete. There's so much to see and do in this country.
A few years ago, I did a search on "(state name) tourism" and saved all the sites. All of them are proud of their states and would love for you to visit (and leave a little money). I've been doing this since '98 and barely scratched the surface.