Hi, Just a quick introduction. I am 69 years old and recently retired. One of the items on my bucket list has always been to do some bicycle touring. It seems that there are two types of touring bikes, ones that are made to run on the road (Surly LHT, Trek 520, etc) and ones that are made to run off the road (Surly Troll/Ogre, Safari, Salsa Fargo, etc.). How much riding/touring is actually done off the road? Should I start out doing credit card touring on a road type bike or go for the off the road solution and take the hit on being a little slower on the road than the other guys? I live in N California and would like to ride up the Coast Line through Oregon into Washington by next summer....lots of small trips and lots of rides with a fully loaded bike to get into shape...but not sure where to start on the bike.