el forestero

Thanks for the helpful replies, everybody!

I'll be heading back to Japan to resume running my bike tour business as soon as inbound tourism can resume. In the meantime, a low-level job in which I'll do lots of wrenching on a wide variety of bikes may be the most valuable way to use my time as it'll give me experience that'll contribute to the smooth running of my own business.

I have a comfortable, spacious refrigerator box in which to sleep behind a bush on Mt Diablo, and there are small caves nearby in which I can curl up in the unlikely event of rain. Although the box/cave rent is higher than I anticipated, it's still somewhat manageable, so cost of living isn't much of a concern during this hopefully-brief period in the smoky Bay.