I am not planning to carry all that much. I will have less than 35 pounds total in gear. It all fits inside the four panniers. I don't think I can reduce what I am bringing by much more. I need cold weather stuff for the first month, before being able to shed some items as I go further south. The combined current weight of the racks and panniers are what I'd like to lighten.
The desired platform was my silly idea that I could maybe strap a sixpack on before enterring the campground! Other than that, I was hoping to avoid having to lash anything on the bike.

Skip my concern about carrying the weight high vs low on the front rack, I just returned from a ride trying it out both ways and there wasn't much difference. Regarding my gearing, I went stupid low: 26-36-48 crank with a 11-40t cassette using a roadlink, which btw, wasn't supposed to work!