I have one thought. A piece of advice I learned from my dad. Basically he taught me to buy the best I could afford, and if I wanted something I could not afford, then I should wait and save up for it. He said (and I often learned from his mistakes), that buying the cheaper item costs more than twice as much in the long run because you end up trashing the first and buying what you really want later.

With that, I understand the desire to get your feet wet and not pop the big bucks, so you might consider watching Craigslist for something used that you can ride the h*ll out of and decide if you really want a road bike after all. You shouldn't spend more than half of retail on a used bike, so at "entry level" you could get a bike for $250 from someone else who made the mistake of buying it new.