That was a great article. I thank the OP for posting it!
I've been to LA once for work related issues and didn't see much at all on the highway. The writer's journey on the bike itself IS part of the vacation experience in my opinion. I think his choice of combining transit with cycling was brilliant along with the use of the internet to find inexpensive housing. His trip would have been even less expensive if the writer was able to bring a folding bike on the trip instead of having to rent one. At $22.00 dollars a day, he could have purchased a cheap department store bike and used that for transport.
Renting a car for several days is probably the second or third most expensive cost in a vacation. If you can eliminate this burden, vacations become far more affordable which is why few people do them! I see this in New York City all time with tourists trapped in their autos going no where, experiencing little and missing everything when all the activity requires foot transport! This mindset in America that requires any kind of vacation a costly auto rental is keeping millions locked into their homes