Thanks for all the responses. I certainly wouldn't be opposed to disc brakes as that is what I am using now, but I'm not sure my dedicated ride will demand the performance. I'll still be living in Oregon, but the geographical change will produce a less wet environment from Portland.

I agree I could ride "any" bike on this paved MUT, but I have no interest in being the tool riding a 6" dual susp. mtb to work on skinny tires . . . just not going to do that.

I am really looking forward to this ride/commute and I want a bike that will make it fun, but also be practical. With the info you all have provided it appears that Touring bikes are generally heavier with a slacker riding position compared to the others - so maybe I should be looking away from the touring oriented bikes.

I didn't post the list of bikes as my narrowed down interests, just the ones that I had found that might fit my purpose. The ability to secure a rear rack is essential and I know all of the ones on the list come with rack attachment points.

If there are other manufacturers (big or small) that produce complete bikes that fit into my needs I'd love to hear about them so I can spend too many hours feeding my gear addiction through research.

Finally, I'm new to the road bike gearing set up, but I appreciate the gearing recommendations. I'll keep doing the work to figure out what they all mean.