Thanks irclean. I did not realize hydraulic brakes would rule out drop bars.
Couldn't mount the brake levers on the horizontal section?
If I get drop bars, I'll want wider ones, and don't necessarily want/need the traditional brake levers located out in front (not sure the terminology). The bars are the thing probably most in the air, but I have been gravitating towards drops so that I could take it on long rides on the weekend.
CCrew also recommended the Soma Doublecross. Do you know about how much that would run to build out? That's an area I'm not knowledgeable enough. I read lists of components and I know what they are, but I can't tell relative quality. ie I don't know what deore or 105 really means. How do I figure out the total cost for that bike?
I like the Peace Tour. I'm adding it to my list
We actually won't know about my wife's "promotion" for a couple months, but it's looking good. She works at a hotel that was sold last week, so she wasn't certain what was happening. The new owners love her, so it's looking real good for the bump in salary. The new boss is flying us out to his house in Kingman tomorrow, in his private plane, to see some of his other properties and "talk business". It's starting to sound like I might be able to land a consulting gig with them too, so the bike budget might even get bigger! woohoo!
Thanks for all the advice everyone. You've all helped me learn a lot.