Heh, glad you pointed that out, with your bump I thought it was new.

I've done one very short tour on my Tricross sport (carbon fork - not sure why OP assumed that was unsuitable for touring). It was clear that it was much better suited to the task than the stock mountain bikes that every single other rider was using. Having tried both, I'd never willingly tour without drop bars, for instance.

I did find the bike somewhat unstable at high speed downhill, but that was probably due to the non-ideal loading (lots of weight high above the rear rack, and a handlebar bag but no front panniers). Not dangerous or anything, but I found it very challenging to even look backwards over my shoulder on a narrow trail.

Having briefly testridden a couple of dedicated tourers such as the Surly LHT, I can see how their geometry would be more comfortable for long kilometres. The LHT rides very straight with minimal steering, compared to the tricross, for example. Would it make much difference to me? I doubt it. If someone offered me free use of a LHT for a 3 week tour, I'd probably still take my own bike instead, put it that way. 3 months might be a different story.

If you want to ride 25,000 kilometres on a bike and do nothing else with it, buy a tourer. If you want a bike that you can use for tours here and there, a cyclocross is IMHO more than adequate. I'd rather tour on a cyclocross than commute on a tourer...

Steve