Thank you sir. Makes it a no brainer for me to get the better cross bike if it is an inexpensive modification such as you described. I doubt I will feel the need to change it also after doing the research and getting the info from you. The guy at he LBS made me nervous because he told me the cross bike wouldn't be that different from what I'm currently on (hard tail 29er MTB). But worse comes to worse I'll just get new chain rings and road tires.
Thank you again. Much appreciated!