I cyclecamped for 2-3 weeks a year for about 10 or 12 years - IMHO you would have the least pain such as those mentioned in the training shedule if you just take maybe 3 or 4 months, and every week do two rides, starting with the longest mileage you are currently comfortable, and increase that distance 5 miles or so every other week. When you get to being able to do 50 miles over mixed terrain with no pain, your body is probably ready. Learn how to load the bike for touring so that the weight is evenly distributed.
My recollection is that when I didn't do this preparation before my tours, I'd have a pain in the sitzplatz that took a week to get over. Remember, you're likely to average 10mph... so it's your seat and your arms that will protest the most if you haven't prepared.

spot on. don't have to be an amazingly fit but the fitter you are the more you will enjoy it.

Being in shape will make it easier to ride faster and farther, but you don't have to be in great shape to cycle tour. You just might not be able to ride as far every day, or might spend more hours on your bike getting from place to place.

Here's a suggestion if you are new to touring -- sign up for one of the weeklong cross-state tours that occur in just about every state in the USA every summer. Most of these rides are supported, meaning that the tour operators carry your gear from town to town and generally provide sag support if you have a mechanical problem. Many of these tours are very reasonably priced, particularly if you camp out along the way. You won't have to invest a large amount of money in racks, panniers and other gear, but you will get a good taste of cycle touring and whether you like it or not.

I have ridden supported cross-state cycle tours in Georgia, NC, Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin. All of them have been great, and were very inexpensive vacations. Most of them were a week long, with optional shorter routes (eg, 3 days). On every support tour I have ridden there were people riding every day who not in great shape as well as young kids, overweight adults, elderly folks. Most of these tours averaged about 60 miles a day, and most of the people rode the whole distance every day. It's just that some people finished riding by noon every day, and others were riding until 5 pm or so.

40 km is sufficient - the shape comes on tour - just start slowly.

No worries. Those coupons aren't good for bikes anyway.

Several folks have used them. I even read some folks on the forums who combined it with their dividend and got a really good deal. There is a shop nearby, Adrenaline Bicycles, that is a dealer for both Surky and Rocky Mountain. I am looking at the LHT and Sherpa 30.

Sherpa 30.......... if for no other reason than to be different

Very true. Except my original budget, ~$500, is quickly getting blown out of the water. Granted that was before I was aware of the cost of bikes. Teaching has its benefits, but having large sums of discretionary income is not one of them.

Great Suggestion !!!!
I've done a couple of those supported tours with my family.

I once heard some novelist interviewed, and he said something to the following effect. "To write a novel, you have to be able to sit down at your typewriter and write for an hour or two, and to be able to do it again the next day, picking up where you left off. If you can do that, every day, you can write a novel."

Bicycle touring is similar, except that it's easier to pick up where you left off.