I'm a bike nerd, but admittedly never really got into the cyclocross stuff.

I've had mixed experiences with REI, check out a local bike shop that's not a big chain if you have one. Actually, check out 2 or 3; each one will probably only carry a few different brands of bikes. There's not really too much of a difference from brand to brand, and a lot of them are the exact same frame with different paint and stickers on them.

I'm also not familiar with steel frames, because in that price point a road bike will be full or near full carbon fiber. This probably isn't best for your purposes as you're not looking for speed, you need to haul a few things around. Just realize that steel rusts.

I'd also suggest you take a look at hybrid bikes. They're a hybrid between mountain bikes and road bikes. Depending on how you set them up, you can really almost have the best of both worlds. Before my felt I had a really nice Trek hybrid that some spoiled brat left to rot at my university. I had a set of mountain bike tires and a set of road slicks for it, and it handled (louisiana) trails decently and really performed well on the road. You can also get a decent hybrid for about half of what you're looking at in a cyclocross. Cyclocross bikes are meant for racing.

Let me know if you want any more information or have any other questions.

http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/bikes/city-bikes/fitness-bikes/fx/7-2-fx/p/1323010-2016 - this was the trek I had back in college. Absolutely loved it. I've seen police officers in New Orleans riding around with them hauling pretty sturdy loads too. I could get it up to and maintain 21-23mph relatively easily with the road slicks(I ride 25-26 on my road bike).