I'm going to toss this one into the list, Felt Cafe 8 or 24.

it's not advertised as a touring bike nor does it have mid fork eyelets on the aluminum fork but it is a damn nice riding bike. Slack angles like old Mtn bikes but for anyone who rides with seat and bars at the same height or bars higher it really can be set up as a very fine touring bike. I switched to a clamp on stem w adaptor, pushed the seat forward a bit on the rails and got the bar height down close to seat height. The chainstays are over 19" long and the wheelbase is close to 45" and it rides great. I fit 700x40 Mondiales for dirt roads. Carries a rear load great. For the money I'd get a new one of these and fine tune the seat/bars than get a 20yr old mtn bike. Pretty sure it's lighter than a LHT. Think of it as a 21st century Schwinn Collegiate with all the improvements in the last 50yrs.