Thanks for the warm welcome & all the recommendations! I'll definitely look into all of those options.

Here are some answers to a few questions that you guys asked me:
1) I am hoping to spend less that $1000
2) I have never been touring before, so any touring that I start out with will probably be fairly light
3) I am fairly close to both Trek & MEC stores, so I would be able to go in and get sized before making a purchase

The main reason that I liked the shocks on the Trek Neko S is because I've only ever owned a mountain bike and I've become very accustomed to the smooth ride over gravel. I know that shocks are a no-go for touring bikes, but is a bike without shocks going to be shaky over gravel? I borrowed a friend's bike once that didn't have shocks, and riding on gravel with it was absolutely awful.