A used Novara Randonee is hard to beat, unless you find another used touring bike of similar quality for the money.

Another option is BikesDirect; they usually get mixed reviews. Part of the difficulty with their direct-to-customer model is you have to do the assembly yourself -- it really isn't much and it's good practice for touring -- you should be able to do most of the assembly with a multitool (which you should probably carry on tour). From BikesDirect, the Windsor Tourist, at $500, has actually gotten above-average reviews, and it has been updated recently to have a threadless stem, and almost too-many mounting points:

http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/...ke-tourist.htm