I'm also curious about how much experience the OP has in regards to cycle tours, especially since it sounds like he doesn't even own a bike at the moment. It makes me think of a guy my son and I met while riding the Erie Canal last fall. He was going from Buffalo to Albany, which is around 400 miles. The route is really, really flat, and it's incredibly easy to find camping spots/food/accomodations/etc. He took the train to Buffalo, bought his first bike in years, some equipment, and set off. It took approximately three days before he was ready to give up after realizing that touring is a bit more than hopping on a bike. By the time we met him, on day 5, the only thing he was enjoying was the thought that the agony was almost over. ;-)

As for panniers - heck yes. Sometimes it seemed we couldn't go a mile on our tour without someone stopping to ask about our trip, offer us lunch, or a place to camp out. Part of that was clearly that they had no idea that a small kid would be able to ride that far, but there was also intense curiosity about what I was doing, too. ;-)