Cycle Tourist

Your absolutely right. The Trek was a nice ride unloaded. With 50 lbs of evenly distributed load, a scary handful to keep going straight in a side wind. My Klein feels just fine anytime but there's nothing wrong in liking different bikes for different jobs.
My first touring bike was a entry level Univega with no braze-ons, inexpensive racks and totally different gearing. The strap-on cable stops let me change from stem to barend shifters and after removing the kickstand I mounted a dyna generator and lights. (not so good at traffic lights). The straight gauge tubing gave no offense and the center pull brakes never let me down. It didn't have a particularly long wheel base which gave it a little quicker handling which was fine.
This basic bike probably cost about $75 used for the bike and about $75 for the gearing and shifting upgrades and the racks and panniers, (1987)...best dogone touring bike I've ever owned. Function is all that matters when you're on the road.

seedsbelize 

I noted no squirreliness on my Trek, when loaded with about 30 pounds.