Badgerjockey I can see where your coming from, you've been paying attention to how you use your triple and think why not just ditch the other two rings? I did the same for my mtb when I went 1x. Shimano makes great wide range "rhythm stepped" cassettes that all have the 11-13-15-17-19 cogs. The difference between your approach and mine is I went 34t x 11-40 eleven speed. It means once and awhile I have to jump off and run up a grade with my mountain bike, nbd. It is handy not to have a FD and cabling take up space on the lower triangle.
If you're touring you probably don't care if you go a little faster or slower depending on which gear is more comfortable to push. I'm not running 1x on my all road bike, I'll be using a 46/30 double paired with a fairly narrow 11 speed cassette. I prefer the ability to fine tune my cadence when I do a long day in the saddle.
Have you seen that Microshift makes a Shimano 11s and even 12s mountain compatible indexable bar end shifter!? You could grab a Deore 11-51 11 speed cassette with a 34t ring.