If this message finds the author, or the people knowledgeable in the subject matter, I am very much interested in the implementation details.

How do you encrypt the flash drive? Do you run QEMU in the host OS or are there more optimal ways of "booting" it? How do you run QEMU to take benefit of all available resources on the "console" computer (the one running the image)? What's with the performance, and is the performance the reason for not running GUI? (But also - yay tmux!) How do you backup? (Do you just `dd` it? I don't put too much trust in the reliability of the flash drives...). What flash drive do you use? What are the pitfalls and limitations? I think I have more questions, but I will stop here, you see where I am going.

This is a really nice and simple idea and I will definitely try it too. I appreciate a lot if you can share your experience.