I wound up buying a 2009 Trek Navigator 3.0 in blue today. We went to a bunch of bike stores over the last couple of days and I was able to find one where I could put the Nav 3.0 and the Globe Carmel 3.0 side by side. The Specialized just wasn't as good-looking a bike as the Trek, I liked the Trek's ride better, and you can lock out the suspension on the front fork of the Trek, which I don't think you can do on the Globe. It turned out that I needed a 16.5 frame instead of the 18's that several of the LBS' wanted to sell me. Once I was on the 16.5' Navigator it just felt right, enough so that I didn't want to stop once the trailhead came to an intersection and I had to turn around.
We drove 100 miles to Madison, WI earlier this week to find a 2008 Trek Lime on closeout for my wife, and had a very pleasant experience at the Trek Concept store. We spent quite a bit of time with several outstanding salespeople who didn't look down on us for wanting to get a coaster bike (as opposed to one LBS guy who sniffed when we asked about coasting bikes and said "people who are serious about cycling don't ride those." Needless to say we didn't shop there, and we didn't bother to tell him that the coasting bike was the only kind my wife can use because she has had surgery on both hands and can't manipulate handbrakes and shifters. The Trek store guys, even though they obviously were used to dealing with hardcore cyclists, couldn't have been nicer. They were the ones who suggested I should try the 16.5 instead of the 18.
I should get the bike on Tuesday or Wednesday and will post pics if someone can explain how to do it. Do I need a Photobucket account or something like that?