If you're looking for a touring bike, but some of the touring you're planning to do is a bit off the beaten path, and you might be venturing onto some rougher terrain, consider the Surly Long Haul Trucker. It has all of the usual tell tail signs of a tourer, like a long wheel base and relaxed geometry, wide drop bars with bar end shifters, and even braze-ons to hold a couple of spare spokes. The smaller sizes, like the one pictured above, also happen to use 26 inch wheels, so when you combine the smaller diameter rims with the high flange hubs you get an extremely durable wheelset.
This particular Long Haul Trucker was brought in as a frame set and then built up in-house, and we've tried to spec it for, well, the long haul, with some sensible, durable parts that won't let you down on the road or trail. Of course we can also build it to precisely your spec's.
Either way, for $1575 it's worth a look if you're planning to do some hard core touring, or if you just want a capable, durable, straight tracking 26 inch wheeled bike with drop bars.