Maybe you just got a crappy road bike for your conditions. Wider and better rolling tires will go a long way to fix a crappy ride if your bike can handle them. If you are on very budget friendly tires it's going to be a rough ride no matter what you have.
But this might also be to your liking
Checkpoint ALR 5 - Trek Bikes
And it comes in many different tier levels with all the way up to more money than I could comfortably afford to pull out of my pocket. During a ride I was doing earlier this year, I met a guy on a Checkpoint that was loaded down with paniers on the front that was doing a 444 mile trip and he said he really enjoyed it. His was one of the carbon fiber versions.
Even though it's marketed as a gravel bike, it apparently does well for touring too.