Thanks to all of you for your replies. I will try to follow up on a few of the comments. I also tried to post a picture of my bike, but it won't let me since im new... Anyway, my bike has a rigid front fork. Also, I don't see any imperfections or problems with the frame. I will look into changing the stem and I will be doing the work myself on the bike. For now I've been doing day trips and hoping to start doing some credit card touring and then we'll see where things go from there. Most of my self sufficient camping experience is from backpacking and hiking, but I did some weeklong bike touring trips when I was much younger, but for right now I'm just trying to enjoy riding and condition myself for longer rides.
I truly appreciate all the input.