I think low weight, low cost per day and comfort are a balancing act - you can get any two at the cost of the other one.
When you add trip duration into the mix, I usually choose:
short trip: weight = low, comfort - medium-high , cost/day = high (credit card tour, stay in hotels, eat in restaurants, carry minimal clothes & almost no food)
long trip: weight = high, cost/day = low, comfort = medium-high (camp in campgrounds, cook, carry lots of clothes for all contingencies, carry music, maps, book, chair)
I have never managed to sacrifice the comfort on my trips - it's important to me. But if you want, you can get low cost and low weight by being a very minimalist camper, eat out of grocery stores and not restaurants, carry minimal clothes, go dirty a lot (no showers, few changes of clothes)
there are hostels at Pigeon Point, Santa Cruz and Monterey, you could put together a lovely tour if you go south, and not have to camp. Or you can camp at Santa Cruz, BIg Basin, Aptos, Monterey, Big Sur (several places), Pinnacles National Monument... I did something a lot like this, but in the other direction:
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?...nd&context=all
and it was fantastic. Don't ride nacamiento road on a fixie, though - really steep.
You can find a million gear lists on crazyguyonabike.
Have fun!!!