Wow, I'm impressed with the number consistency of insightful response's I’ve gotten on a newbie post. Great community! Rest assured, I’m getting and value your message. Have to agree that the ride, read, test ride and wait approach is likely the best . ( Although the "GO buy a new bike" post was tempting I'll hold off a bit till I'm smart enough to make a better decision based on my “needs” vs wants.
That said, I should qualify that I'm not 100 % new to this. I have ridden my current bike well over 1000 mi (maybe x2) over a 3 year period. I’ve just returning from a 3-4 yr hiatus from regular peddling during a particularly busy period in my career ( as mechanical engineer/project manager).
Funny, since I’ve been back riding 2-3 times a week this past month, I’ve come to realize how much I missed it and how good it makes me feel ( physically and mentally.) I think I’m re-hooked.

As an aside, my fishing buddy offered me his Jamis Ventura for the evening last night .
Since he is about the same stature as me, I jumped on the opportunity. I wanted to get an honest feel for how a decent road bike felt/performed on local conditions for more than a 10 min ride. It was eye opening. Even though I was a bit stiff (I had ridden my hybrid earlier for a good jaunt,) I found the riding position, ride quality and ease of peddling to my liking. Most impressive was that at one point I had to climb a steep(!) 1/2 mi hill and made it up without stopping or even slowing down to a crawl. Never could have done that on my current hybid . This old dog is learning something already!
Thanks again.
Dave