A few years ago, I bought a Trek 950 frame off ebay and decided to build it up as a tourer with drop bars (pic below). This was not particularly successful despite having a fairly loose budget. The problem is that with quill-stemmed mtb's of this era, headtubes are short and getting a drop bar up high enough limits your stem options to one: a Nitto Dirt Drop. These only come in two sizes and are not likely laying around your LBS for $5.
I could never get comfortable on the bike (reach too short) and, in the end, bought a 26" LHT frame and moved all the parts over. I'd stick with the bars you have since you have a complete bike. +1 on the bar ends, or Ergons, or trekking bars. Good luck!