Cyclocross bike as a touring bike
The Crossrip line isn't quite a cyclocross bike; its designed somewhere between a commuter bike and a cyclocross bike (more relaxed and heavier than most cyclocross bikes; also, rack+fender mounts). FWIW, I do know people who have used the Crossrip for light touring and a day to day basis and were happy. But if you'll be happy is a highly personal decision. 

People tour on everything, from BSO's (e.g. what you find in Walmart) to touring bikes to old mountain bikes to cyclocross bikes to full suspension mountain bikes or modern hardtails to fat bikes.

The main characteristics you need to look for are:


Comfort (Don't want to be uncomfortable on long rides)
Stability/Load Capacity/Handling (You can carry the loads required without issue)  
Repairability and reliability (Depends on what kind of touring you're doing) 
Terrain (Can the bike deal with the terrain? An off road tourer may not be ideal for on road and vice versa)


The frame design (i.e. the geometry and materials), tires, saddle, handlebars all come into play for a particular rider for comfort. The frame design and riding position also come into play for stability; tourers often have long wheelbases. Also, where you can mount your loads (front rack, back rack, fork, etc.) come into play with stability and handling. 

Repairability  and reliability depends on what you want to do. Some tourers like the Surly Long Haul Trucker have things like spoke holders to hold spokes that you can replace broken spokes and what not. If that's your thing, you should look for bikes with that. Also, wheel sizes depending on where you go (700c vs 26"), brake types (disc vs rim; poorer areas probably will make disc (esp. hydraulic disc) repair harder if anything goes wrong) and drivetrain (can you repair it if necessary or is it something thats not going to fail or whatever). 

There are secondary concerns as well, such as if you have to ship the bike around or whatever (where S&amp;S couplers or similar may be useful). 

The canonical example of a touring bike for the road is something like the Trek 520 or Surly Long Haul Trucker. It's comfy and stable when loaded due to the geometry,  uses bar end shifters which are basically indestructible (unlike brifters, which can go in 1 crash), uses a reliable drive train and has beefy wheels so they can carry high loads reliably for long distances. The gearing is also chosen so that you have a low enough gear to lug heavy stuff up an incline, for example (lower than most road bikes). You have either rim brakes or mechanical disc brakes, which should be reliable and hopefully serviceable. Most are made from steel.