A thoughtful post but why ask anyone here to reinvent the wheel?
You can go to the free online database by Chessbase and look at how no less than 263 different games have dealt with the very problem you have raised. (your particular line with 6.. Ne7.
If that is too specific, there are books by former world champion Anatoly Karpov and Chess Life columnist and GM Andrew Soltis on this variation. Soltis is a great writer and probably explains the ideas behind the openings as well as anyone.
//I looked in the forums here but didn't find much except one column by Silman extolling the 4. h4 line. That looks pretty tough.
http://www.chess.com/article/view/caro-kann-advance-variation
Okay, so here's what I've been looking at for some time. I'm hoping to find some key points in dealing with advanced d or e pawns in the opening in general, for example in the advanced variation of the French Defense or the Caro Kann (diagram 1).
Now, obviously, the thing with this advanced pawn is that it really restricts my development on the king side (or queenside if it were the d pawn) and blacks goal in playing this opening is to prove that white has overstreched.
The main theme in the Caro Kann is to try to undermine the pawn chain, opening up the f file and try to find some counterplay on the queen side, but it leaves black with a very underdeveloped kingside (diagram 2 - notice that there are less problems if white trades light square bishops).
Okay, so here we are at a point that I find difficult to assess. Black is probably going to have some nice counterplay on the queenside, but is probably not going to get rid of that pesky advanced pawn here. White might even just gambit the b2 pawn and get blacks queen out the way.
When I play black against these kind of structures, this is where I start feeling really cramped. I want to castle on my king side, but I have the problem that both my bishop and my knight want the same square to develop.
Now I've taken the Caro Kann defense just to show you what I mean - my point is not: how do I continue my Caro Kann, because there is plenty of material out there that shows the way to a nice game. My main point is: how do I contest those advanced pawns or, what is a good way of playing around this crampy position?