Sorry for waiting so long to get back to this thread. I just made my account and for some reason wasn't being notified that people had responded.
Anyway, I feel like some people here don't believe that the bike I mentioned takes the tires that I claimed it does. I wasn't trying to start any arguments or anything. I'm just looking for a fun, budget 26+ build to start on. Again, it's not mine, so this was an image shared with me by another user, but if you google something like "Mongoose Rockadile 2.8" you can see a picture of his bike (I would upload it myself but there are restrictions on posting URLs/images for users with less than 10 posts).
As for the Surly recommendation, that is exactly what I want lol. Unfortunately, they are well outside the budget at the moment which is why I was hoping something comparable would be available in the used/vintage market. Sounds like there aren't many, if any other options though based on the discussion here.
Thanks anyway for the suggestions though!