I truly love my modern road bike. I have a Look 555 that's a dream to ride, it's so comfortable and I find myself doing 75-100 miles rides when I just planned on going out for a couple of hours I like being on it that much.
You need a shoe with a 3 bolt pattern to fit Look or SPD-SL cleats, but good road shoes are so nice to ride in. If you hunt around you can often find deals on last years model at good prices, I paid £55 for a pair of carbon Shimano R130's that are a good quality shoe.
If you plan on long rides, I would go with good road shoes as opposed to MTB shoes, as they are generally a lot lighter, and after all they are rotating mass in the same way that wheels are so less weight here makes more of a difference overall.