Criteria for a Touring Bike

I did a bunch of reading on what type of bike would be best for a long distance ride. Naturally, a "touring bike" is the right answer, but there are countless varieties of touring bikes. There are bikes designed for paved road touring, off-road, and mixed surface touring. Tour with a credit card, or pack enough stuff on your bike to make it a virtual mobile home. Spend a bunch or go the economy route.

I plan to stay on the pavement, carry enough so that I can camp most days, and neither break the bank or wonder if I saving a few a dollars would be forgotten when the ride became uncomfortable or unreliable.

So here are my criteria for my touring bike:

• Low gear-inch number of 22 or below. For going up those long mountain climbs, no one ever complains that their gearing is too low. Lots of bikes that are supposedly for touring have gearing that is too high for anything but rolling hills. Here's a good site for calculating gear inches: http://www.jbarrm.com/cycal/cycal.html
• Great brakes. When you are packing an additional 50+ pounds and heading downhill for a couple of miles, you want to know you can slow to make the curves. V-brakes are pretty much standard for touring bikes, but disc brakes have some benefits and are becoming more popular.
• Built for comfort, not for speed. Road bikes are lightweight and built for speed. Every ounce saved is potentially a speed improvement. On a touring bike you can save pounds by simply packing lighter and the distance you cover is not so much a measure of speed, but rather riding time. Most everyone says that steel frames are more giving and accordingly more comfortable for a long day on  the saddle. Riding position should be a bit more upright too. I want to be able to enjoy the scenery and at the same time not put excessive strain on my back.
• Reliable. I'm willing to sacrifice a bit of speed and technology for a bike that doesn't need lots of maintenance and repair. I'm not interested in mastering roadside bike repair through experience. The key potential problem areas are flat tires, broken chains, non-functioning derailleurs, and broken spokes. So sturdy and simple seems to be the order.

 OK. I have a pretty good idea of what I want in a touring bike. Time to go shopping.