On hammocks, I strongly recommend at least trying it. It's not for everybody, but if it is for you, you'll be a zealous convert like the rest of us. The reason isn't necessarily to save weight or for simplicity, but for comfort. For young, effortlessly healthy people like me, this just takes camping from something to tolerate to something to enjoy. For a lot of older people or people with back problems, etc, or who just absolutely can't sleep on the rocky ground, it makes camping something that's possible to do at all.

Being able to camp in rocky or uneven areas is a plus, as is not having to pack up a wet tent (if you hang your tarp first and take it down last, none of your sleep system gets wet). Lots of hammocks come with bug nets, the cheapest - and the one I'd recommend for trying it out - is the Grand Trunk Ultralight Skeeter Beeter. There's also the heavier but larger (therefore maybe more comfortable Skeeter Beeter Pro for a similar price. Other more expensive hammocks have some features that may improve comfort, but those are right in the price range for someone to test it out. Hammocks retain their value pretty well so you can probably resell all the stuff on hammockforums.net if you end up not liking it.

Now, as you're riding from PA to CO, keep in mind you're going through an awful lot of Great Plains, and trees may not be in abundance. Once the ground flattens out you may start having problems finding spots you can hang in. The thing about hammocks is they are fantastic in environments where you can easily find two strong trees 12 or so feet apart, but useless in deserts or other places without trees. You have to plan ahead if you are going to be counting on them, and going through places like Kansas, I don't know if I would.

You can always do what I'll probably do when biking across the country, which is mail your tent ahead to a place where you think it'll start to get hard to find hammocking spots, and then mail the hammock back home from there.