Personally, I find it rather pointless to ask people's average speed around here. Everyone but me seemingly rides 22MPH up a 10% grade into a headwind sitting down spinning on the big chainring...

Instead of asking what people average, as it is different for everyone, figure out what you need to average for your distance and duration, and ask yourself if it is reasonable. If you normally ride fast, it shouldn't be much of an issue (ok, maybe a mental issue) to ride slower. For the first tour I've planned, that I leave for next week, I've planned out over a week's time a mileage I know I can ride in three to four hours for each day, and have given myself all day to do it to account for anything I haven't considered or to stop for things that are interesting. Speed is the last thing on my mind in anything but a timed event.

You've got this forum confused with the "Road Cycling" section. I've always found it refreshing that most people on this forum are pretty honest and straight forward with their speeds and distances covered. Many on here will admit that they only average 10 mph fully loaded and most topics here are looking for a lower gear and not a higher one. Just my take anyway.

Actually General Cycling. My newest road bike is 30 years old and doesn't have a lick of carbon on it, I'm not allowed in Road Cycling

I haven't seen many claim as low 10MPH, but then again speed isn't (thankfully) a huge concern of most here!

Yeah, some power riders on the forum but most accept going slow if loaded. IMHO this is a good reason to go metric, averaging 16-19 kph sounds better than 10-12 mph. I'm not as fit as before but I'm pretty sure current slow speed due to heavy weight/aero drag of Disc Trucker/panniers.

This is a question I've struggled to answer myself, even though I love it. Why do I love it?

But is the why that important? I'm not so sure. I'll try and answer it anyway.

When my time is nearly up, I won't care much about how nice my kitchen looked or what car I used to be able to drive. I'll want to know that I lived my life in a way that made me proud, and I'll want to look back and think, "Wow, I went on some wild and crazy adventures!"
When I'm on tour, I sometimes long to be home, and for normalcy - a normal shower, a normal wardrobe, a normal bed, a normal kitchen, a normal social life. But I never get sick of riding. So that's something.

I'm surprised at your comment about riding on a city bikeway. Cities all look the same to me. "Oh look, another building! WOW! I would've never expected that! Look at all this stuff to do! You can go inside and sit down and eat something, or you can go inside and sit down and watch something!!! I will never get tired of this!" Of course, I know a lot of people that aren't outdoorsy, and get bored to tears in small towns, much the same way I'm bored to tears in big cities. So it's a preference, I suppose.
And if you're not on tour, that's probably the same city bikeway, or at best, 2-3 bikeways, day after day after day...

I like the independence, I like the scenery (most of the places I've been, anyway), I like the challenge, I like meeting friendly people. If you ever get pessimistic about the nature of the human species, go on a bike tour and see the outpouring of support. It still surprises me every time, and at the end of every tour, I unexpectedly say my favorite part was the people.

And I like riding my bike. What's wrong with that?

I like local rides in city & suburbs & rural rides both. Countryside is more relaxing but some pretty good roads in Northern Virginia etc area; it's a lot more developed than it used to be but OTOH often better now for bikers w/wider lanes, smoother side walks & more bike lanes. Locally one can find picturesque winding roads as in ritzy McLean or be amazed at the rapid development in Arlington & DC etc. Still learning new routes & perfecting old routes.