This morning, she tries to catch her dream.

``I have dreamed about toting that torch every night for about three weeks,'' says Mrs. Webb, 64, of Beech Island, S.C. ``I just wondered if I should just touch it. If I could take my little finger and just touch it, I'd be so happy.''

Mrs. Webb and her husband, Milton, rearranged their vacation plans to be in town when the Olympic torch arrives in Richmond County around noon today. They'll stake out a spot along Georgia U.S. Highway 25 for a first glimpse, then race the torch downtown to Riverwalk for the official ceremony.

The beach can wait. The Olympic symbol is coming.

It arrives at midday. It leaves around 4 p.m. Those four hours hold so much excitement, emotion, patriotism and spectacle that ``once-in-a-lifetime'' this time isn't such a cliche.

``I'm really proud to be so close to the torch and the Olympics,'' says Tadna Sarvepalli, 10. ``It's a lifetime chance and I wouldn't really miss it for anything.''

But since nothing like the torch has ever been here before, how to commemorate its passing can be a puzzler.

Simply, Augusta celebrates its closest contact with Atlanta's Olympics. At church parties stocked with lemonade, Kool-Aid, hot dogs and even vintage cars, as Mrs. New plans. Or at porch parties stocked with other beverages, as Twyla Tuten plans. Celebrates at businesses, at residences, at schools, at Riverwalk, at highway medians.

``Any excuse for a party,'' says Ms. Tuten, who will pedal her mountain bike from her North Augusta home across the 13th Street Bridge this morning to glimpse her friend Anne Whittington-Reardon carry the torch.

No matter where they are, Augustans plan to spend this day craning their necks down nearby roads for any glimpse of the sanctioned ball of fire. The torch's twisting, turning journey takes it into many segments of the area, with the promise of clogged roads from Hephzibah to Harlem.

Transportation's terrors are sure to rear their ugly heads.

Hundreds of Augustans will be able to walk to view the torch as it passes their houses or neighborhoods. No problem there. But 20,000 are expected downtown for the 1:18 p.m. ceremony, which takes place upstream from the annual Southern National Drag Boat Races that finish today. Unless everyone borrows Ms. Tuten's lead and bicycles in, parking might be a mess.

And there are four places along the torch's route where it passes over railroad tracks.

Richard and Teri Maricano will sit about 12 feet above it all.

``We're going to get up (this) morning and saddle up our two horses,'' Mr. Maricano says. The couple will ride Trigger and Tams from their south Richmond County home to the U.S. Georgia 25 intersection where the torch first appears.

If it's a church and it's along the torch route, it's bound to have refreshments in the parking lot. Many offer free parking and sing-alongs.

One church plans its own torch run, after the real thing jogs past.

``We're going to have everything we can think of out there at the church,'' says the Rev. Andrew Johnson, pastor at First Mount Moriah Baptist Church on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The torch passes there about 12:40 p.m.

``We'll be pretending we are running ourselves,'' says Rev. Johnson, who'll grab an artificial torch for his own run to Ninth Street.

Other Augustans will crowd the sidewalks to celebrate a symbol their families have already seen - and held.

Rick Pruett is lagging behind his wife, Vicki, and children Cory, 13, and Britni, 12. Those three saw the torch pass through Fort Pierce, Fla., July 6 - and ended up at the exact spot torchbearer Peter Busch stopped.

``He started signing autographs and handed the torch to my wife to hold,'' Mr. Pruett says. ``I haven't seen it and now they've held it. I've got to get even with them.''

Not everyone shares the desire to catch a historic glimpse of the Olympics, though.

``I'm going to avoid it,'' says Frank Harrison. ``Since they took the medals away from Jim Thorpe, the greatest American athlete that ever lived...I don't watch them (the Games) on TV.''

Mr. Thorpe won gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon in the 1912 Games, the first man to win both events. He was stripped of his medals after Olympic officials ruled he was a professional athlete because he had played baseball for a small salary prior to the Games.

But even Mr. Harrison's rancor for the Olympics won't keep him from downtown today.

``I'm going to watch the drag boat races,'' he says. ``I just hope there are more people like me who remember Jim Thorpe and come down to watch the boats.''

Olympic torch activities at area churches and businesses:

First Baptist Church Gracewood will let out early this morning to greet the torch's first foray into Richmond County at 11:55 a.m. Torchbearers and Olympic officials will be greeted with hymns and gallons of lemonade there, promises the Rev. Ray Simpson.

Sherwood Baptist Church on Louisville Road moves its services outside this morning and offers free parking and refreshments to spectators.

Victory Assembly of God on Olive Road plans a July Fourth salute to the torch, with fiveminute sparklers fizzing as banners and flags flap hello. The torch is scheduled to pass by around 12:23 p.m.

Covenant Presbyterian Church on Walton Way hosts a covered dish luncheon under the sweet strains of hymns sung by members as the torch passes there around 3:15 p.m. Parking is free.

Pierce United Methodist Church on Jackson Road will sell hot dogs and lemonade for $1 each, free to drivers who donate $5 toward the church's roof repair fund to park there. The torch should pass around 3:40 p.m.

Smoak's Bakery on Walton Way will give away free Danish pastries and lemonade as the flame climbs the Hill around 2 p.m.