Seems that Microsoft forgot to add a link to "Save site as Template" for Publishing sites in MOSS 2007, and it appears the problem is not addressed in SP1, either. Makes me wonder if the lack-of-link was intentional.
Nevertheless, in order to save any Publishing Site as a template, you must manually append the site template address "/_layouts/savetmpl.aspx" to the site URL. So for instance, if your site is http://intranet/offices/sandiego, you can save the template by manually browsing to http://intranet/offices/sandiego/_layouts/savetmpl.aspx
Thanks for the tip, Trevs! You and Blue Chip really did a GREAT JORRRB.