I will echo the previous advice to take some time to go to a few bike shops and ride some stuff to see what you like.
If I was going to buy one bike with the flexibility to do "everything", I think I'd look hard at the cyclocross/gravel bike space... that gets you drop bars and road-style controls with enough frame/fork clearance you can run slightly wider tires when/if desired. You can put smooth skinny tires on a cross/gravel bike but can't really go the other way on a road frame... not that there's anything wrong with a road bike if you have no desire to ever go off pavement, but it will be a pure one trick pony. Though there are a lot of nice paved trails around, there are also some with paving that has started to deteriorate and been chip sealed, and some that are gravel or crushed limestone. If you get out of central Iowa, it seems like unpaved trails (or at least unpaved sections) are more the norm. A skinny road tire will go across crushed limestone reasonably safely if it's well crushed and packed in, but any larger rocks or loose gravel and things can get dicey in a hurry.
Cross/gravel bike will also most likely have disc brakes, which though I have no personal experience with disc brakes on a bike I can tell you it's no fun to get caught out in a cold rain and then have to deathgrip the brake levers to even begin to slow the bike down.
If I was going to buy one bike with the flexibility to do "everything", I think I'd look hard at the cyclocross/gravel bike space... that gets you drop bars and road-style controls with enough frame/fork clearance you can run slightly wider tires when/if desired. You can put smooth skinny tires on a cross/gravel bike but can't really go the other way on a road frame... not that there's anything wrong with a road bike if you have no desire to ever go off pavement, but it will be a pure one trick pony. Though there are a lot of nice paved trails around, there are also some with paving that has started to deteriorate and been chip sealed, and some that are gravel or crushed limestone. If you get out of central Iowa, it seems like unpaved trails (or at least unpaved sections) are more the norm. A skinny road tire will go across crushed limestone reasonably safely if it's well crushed and packed in, but any larger rocks or loose gravel and things can get dicey in a hurry.
Cross/gravel bike will also most likely have disc brakes, which though I have no personal experience with disc brakes on a bike I can tell you it's no fun to get caught out in a cold rain and then have to deathgrip the brake levers to even begin to slow the bike down.