Need cheap place to stay in Santa Cruz Friday night

[Dixon]

I'm driving to Santa Cruz to see the Residents in concert this coming Friday, October 3rd, and will drive back home to Santa Rosa the next day, Saturday. Can anyone recommend a cheap place to spend the night in the Santa Cruz area? Perhaps friends who would let me roll out my sleeping bag on their floor and use their bathroom for, say, $20 or whatever?

Anyone want to share gas expenses on the way down, or back?

Also, I hear that some beach cliffs in the Santa Cruz area are good for fossil hunting, so would like to check them out on Saturday before I drive home. Any suggestions as to where to go?

Thanks!

[BizWrangler]

I sure do! I can recommend three online communities where you can register and then do a search and stay with people for free. I've done so myself, and have hosted wonderful people from all over the world. There is Couchsurfing.com, Globalfreeloaders.com and Hospitalityclub.org, for starters. There are more, but these should get the job done. I may have the .com, .org mixed up, maybe a .net in there, but I am sure you can find them online.

The cost is $0. The places available can be anything from a place to throw down a sleeping bag to the use of someone's guest cottage, and all things in between! If you register at all three sites (free), then you can search availability and put in requests. Do it now so people have time to get back to you one way or another.

Let us know how it works out, ok? Have fun!
Biz Wrangler

[podfish]

there are also campgrounds along the coast, starting south of Capitola but scattered all the way to Watsonville.
There are fossils in the cliffs above the cement ship, down toward Aptos.