It was a dark and stormy night. Literally. The family minivan was rolling down Interstate 26 in South Carolina.

The hour was late, the weather was mean and we were in need of a hotel room. Stopping in this downpour was just not going to happen. Instead, in the passenger seat, Robbie had commandeered the laptop from the kids, paused Shrek playing on the laptop’s DVD drive, and began surfing the Internet to search for hotel rooms along the highway. The laptop was plugged into the 110 converter and powered by the car’s cigarette lighter, I mean, power port. And the Verizon wireless “aircard” was plugged into the computer’s USB port. Combined, we had non-stop broadband access to the information superhighway.

Between the cell phone, the BlackBerry or other handheld devices, and the laptop, the lines between getaway and workday are blurring. Some 43 percent of office workers say they do some work during vacations, notes furniture maker Steelcase Inc., with a quarter saying they spend at least three hours doing so. Wireless broadband cards, from Verizon, Cingular, Sprint and others, are making work easier.

Wireless broadband cards work by tapping cellular signals where available to access the Internet directly. Among laptop users, about 5 percent said they use a wireless data card or their cell phone to connect to the Internet, according to research firm In-Stat. Yet, more than a third don’t use wireless access because they believe it’s too expensive.

That’s bound to change. Today’s wireless cards start around $50 or less after rebates. Priced like cell-phone voice plans, data plans can run from $20 a month and rise from there depending on the number of “data” minutes purchased.

Wireless cards also are a growing part of many business owners’ hurricane preparedness plans. With battery or generator power and a wireless card, computing continues anywhere cellular service is available, said Chuck Hamby, Verizon Wireless’ Florida P.R . manager.

“To have that productivity while you’re out of the office is important,” he said. In fact, accessibility supersedes price as the driving factor for acceptance, he said.

Connection speeds vary, depending in part on the strength of an area’s cell signal. In areas where broadband access isn’t available, cards switch to service at dial-up speeds. If surfing while driving, signal access is maintained much like with the cell phone. Signals are switched to the next available network.

I knew before we left that the beach house we would be staying at along the New Jersey shore didn’t have Internet access. Dial-up via my BellSouth account would have been costly and slow. Access on the Verizon aircard was slightly slower than the DSL service at my home office but much faster than dial-up.

With the broadband access card tucked into the laptop, I was able to log on, retrieve e-mail, download documents, send files and receive ample ribbing from family and clients alike for working while on “vacation.”

Even from the road. Eventually, Robbie found and booked a hotel room 30 miles down the road. By the time we arrived, the weather had cleared.