A bike with a 1x11 system is easier to operate and one less thing to go wrong; while for inn to inn touring that would be fine to use, but for loaded touring not so much especially if you get into climbing mountain roads with the bike, while a 1x11 maybe a bit tough on climbing mountain roads without gear it's doable especially by you because you're in really good shape now, so you won't be wanting for lower gears till you decide to camp it instead of inn to inn. If you have any thoughts whatsoever about using your touring bike to someday camp with then go with the 3x11 instead, then you won't be buying another bike! In your case two bikes.
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I think what you should say is that it's hard to get enough
range with a one-by. It is definitely not hard to get it geared low enough. On my 1x12 I actually replaced the front chainring with a larger one, because my low was a 13 inch-gear and it was so low I couldn't conceive of using it. The 19 inch-gear I wound up with is lower than any other bike I've owned, and it seems about right. Geared much lower, you wouldn't be able to balace the bike at a slow cadence, you'd be moving too slow.
But back to my original point. My high gear is only about 80". This is fine for offroad use, but on a road tour I'd miss the high gear that my road touring bike has (108").
