I had gotten into a somewhat similar situation with my 86 RockHopper.
I don't have a car, so I needed the RH for everything from simple transportation to hauling groceries.
After putting on a rack, baskets & fenders it got heavy enough it simply didn't appeal to just go ride for fun. I turned it into a 3X9 speed with skinnier tires, to make it "less miserable" to ride, but it was too much work to simply ride for fun!
I picked up a 2008 Specialized Globe. I put on skinny tires and changed the gearing to suit and now have a great bike for fair weather fun riding. I rode FAR more many miles last year than I ever had! I was feeling guilty about the RH, only using it to haul stuff.
Starting around the first of October, the Globe didn't get used until about 2 weeks ago.
Foul weather meant all my riding was "utility" type that needed fenders. That's 7 months on the bike that had been relegated as the "back up"!
I now appreciate BOTH.