RainmanP, thank you for the great suggestion on the panniers. They look like what I believe I need. All the panniers I have been looking at all hold enough clothes for a week. Which would be great for my 2005 cross country trip, but not for the day-to-day commute.

I just took off my vbrakes off my Zaskar, so this weekend I will try the brakes and see how bad it is. I know the brakes I have now are not all that great.

Thank you everyone for all your help so far, within this post and the forum.