I hate to see this thread get way off course but I also dislike the blatant nonsense getting shared. I totaled about 10,000 touring miles on my trucker with perfect shifting. I can't remember dropping a chain, and it was too easy to use the friction shifters to pop into exactly the gear I wanted, everytime. I made some great memories on that bike.

To the OP, I also had a CrossCheck in the days before the Straggler was a thing. It was a great, reasonably zippy bike that I did my first touring on. If the Straggler had been available at that time I definitely would've gotten that instead though. For the range of things you want to do on your bike, I think the Straggler sounds good. I'm not sure what prices are like in the States now, but the All-City Space Horse might be a similar option.