Touring - creating a touring bike

Hey y'all,
I'm new to touring, but not cycling or backpacking. My bigest problem with touring seems to be the bike, or lack there of. My road bike is purely a racing frame and my mountian bike, is well, intended for off road. I do have an idea on how to get a "touring acceptable bike" assuming I cant find a used touring bike. My possible solution to sinking 1000 bucks (that I do not posses) on a new bike is as such. If I can find a road triple with rear rack braze ons, then switch the fork to a true touring fork. That way the breaking will be better and I can get the front rack attachment points. I figure that most recreational road bikes can fit a 28mm tire and for my light weight packing and light weight me that should not much of an issue. Can anybody comment on this idea.
Thanks,
scott

you can always convert your mtb by switching to 26x1.5 tires with a raised
center tread. the gearing can probably stay as-is. much more suitable that
700c tires if you'll be doing any gravel roads or fire trails.

if touring light, you won't need front panniers, but do get a handlebar bag. most
brackets will not fit mtb stems; you can easily make mount for bags that use the
wire loop. can you lock out or tighten the front fork instead of replacing?

you can do away with rear rack/panniers altogether by using a bob or yakima single-
wheel trailer. you can get one for about $100 used on ebay, or nashbar has the
yakima on sale for $135 - about what you'd pay for racks and panniers anyway.

that leaves your mtb with the current setup you're comfortable with, and you get
to cruise the dirt trails after you dump you gear at camp.

For the MTB get the slicks as suggested above but also get a rigid fork for it. These come in suspension replacement sizes from the like of surly and will greatly improve your efficiency (and save you a kilo or two!). Also fit bar ends or a touring style ATB bar to give yourself more hand positions.

I've toured for ages on an old rigid mountain bike and except for the lack of drop bars it is fine. Several companies do front racks for mountain bikes, probably the best is the carradice limpet system. I believe tubus and blackburn also do suitable racks.

Yes, using your mountain bike with little or no modification is the way to go, either using panniers or pulling a trailer.
I turned an old unused Mtb frame into a commuter/tourer by throwing a fresh coat of paint and mostly old but good 7-speed LX components that were laying around... this bike cost me almost next to nothing to build...

If you want to keep your current bikes as they are, then the obvious thing is to buy a used touring bike.
In addition to touring use, they make excellent general purpose hack bikes, esp in foul weather, and can carry a serious load of shopping.

Thanks all for the advise on switching the Mt bike, but... if I switch the mt bike, then I can not mt bike (which I plan to do more). I am curious if the switching a road bike fork to a touring fork is acceptable, or just plain stupid. By doing this I could turn it into a dirt road beater or a comuter bike, cheaper than buying the real thing (not to mention it would be real unique). Just an idea that I would like pros like yourselves to advise me. I don't realy beleive in using a mt bike on the road either as it is uncomfortable to me. Fortunately in the mean time, I do have road slicks, a rack and home made panniers... and some real cool roads/jeep roads/singletrack loops starting at my house to use the mt bike to its fullest.
Thanks again,
scott