Waiting for U.S. 101 to Reopen, Travelers Find Life Is Not a Beach : Traffic: Stranded motorists sleep in cars or camp in parking lots as a derailment keeps road closed and alternate routes virtually impassable.

This was not how the Fletcher family had planned to spend their first night of vacation. They parked in front of a supermarket, swathed in beach towels to keep out the cold, and slept fitfully, sitting up, in their Honda Accord.

They had reservations at a beachfront Ventura hotel, where they had looked forward to falling asleep to the sound of the surf. But because of the freight train derailment that resulted in a spill of hazardous chemicals Sunday, U.S. 101 through Ventura was closed, alternate routes were virtually impassable because of heavy traffic, and the Fletchers and thousands of others found themselves stranded.

“If this is a vacation, I’d rather be at work,” said Carl Fletcher of San Jose, who was stretching out his sore lower back Monday after breakfast with his wife and two children. “My kids were complaining all night because we’re not going to make it to Disneyland today.”

So many people were stranded in Carpinteria, where U.S. 101 southbound was closed, that police suspended city law for one night and allowed travelers to sleep in their cars on city streets and in shopping center parking lots. By early Monday the population of Carpinteria--about 13,000--had almost doubled, said police dispatcher Charla Marshall.

The small, placid community was a city besieged. The streets and parking lots were jammed with thousands of cars filled with sleeping people, who looked as if they had just fled from an advancing army.

The traffic was so clogged on the alternate routes, that those who who tried to bypass U.S. 101 early Monday spent up to six hours traveling 35 miles of back roads. At one point, accidents forced traffic to a standstill on California 150, the 25-mile stretch that connects Santa Barbara County to Ojai.

“People got in yelling matches, honking their horns,” said Dianne Lee of Ojai. “At midnight, people turned off their engines and just waited. The traffic continued all night long. It was a mess.”

Later in the day traffic had lessened, but the detour still added about 2 1/2 hours to the trip from Santa Barbara to Ventura, normally a 40-minute drive.

Many people traveling south tried to check into motels for the night, but rooms in every city surrounding Carpinteria were filled, said Kathy Downard, a desk clerk at the Carpinteria Inn. She had so much trouble finding rooms for desperate travelers she had to refer some people, who were unwilling to rough it, all the way to Lompoc--about 70 miles north.

But most people, who had spent hours trapped in bumper-to-bumper traffic were unwilling to get back in their cars and backtrack 70 miles.

“I’ve never been in traffic like that . . . we spent about three hours at a dead stop,” said Leticia Rodriquez, who spent Sunday night with her family parked in front of a Carpinteria gas station. “We finally just gave up and pulled off here.”

The traffic was so clogged, she said, some people just left their cars, walked off the freeway and bought hamburgers at nearby fast-food restaurants. There were so many hungry travelers that the McDonald’s in Carpinteria ran out of french fries. One enterprising man on a moped, toting a basket filled with pizzas, returned to the freeway several times and did brisk business.

Some bored travelers unhooked bicycles from their racks, or strapped on roller skates and amused themselves until they could either pull off the freeway or advance to the alternate route. Those who decided to stay in Carpinteria often made the best of a bad situation.

At the Casitas Center shopping mall, about 300 cars crammed into the parking lot for the night.

“It was a carnival atmosphere. . . . People were pitching tents right on the asphalt, lighting up camp stoves, sitting around in beach chairs,” said George Hertz, assistant manager of the Lucky Food Center. “Some woman with four show dogs built a temporary corral, put her dogs in there and settled in for the night.”