Morocco in June -- Q's about Itinerary and heat, etc.

(I hope this doesn't double-post and apologize if it does -- after I clicked "post" then nothing happened).

In the first stages of planning a trip to Morocco in mid June, to leave before Ramadan. We know. It will be hot. Unfortunately, this is the only time of the year we have to travel. I've had a hard time figuring out the transportation to some of the places I would most like to go. I've also been unclear if I can leave Morocco in good faith not at least taking a one-day camel ride through Erg Chebbi. That seems a bit ridiculous given that you only live once. Still, it adds days to our travel plans. Perhaps we can find a tour for this? But most run through Marrakech. Maybe it's my itinerary that's causing me problems? Can you offer your thoughts about this? Thank you!

We're traveling in mid-budget range, planning to spend $30-50 US per night for most nights. That's been relatively easy with a lot of looking online. We're also planning to travel by grand taxis and bus, mainly, although I'd prefer to rent a car. Despite being a great driver with experience driving through Turkey, New York City, and in all kinds of American terrain, I can't drive a stick shift like so many other Americans. I can't seem to pick it up. I've tried for twenty years and give up. My spouse isn't a great driver at all. So car rental's sadly out. I've seen outrageous costs online for private drivers, sadly, otherwise we would go with one.

So this is what I'm trying to figure out -- and we can play around to add or subtract a few days here and there if the itinerary is poor; some of it is designed to avoid traveling for more than a few hours at a time, like the overnight in Midelt:

Day 1: Marrakech (fly in)
Day 2: Marrakech
Day 3: Marakech
Day 4: Marrakech (day trip to Ouzoud by private grand taxi or tour)
Day 5: Marrakech (day trip to see argan goats in trees by drive toward Agadir by private grand taxi)
Day 6: Ourzazate (by bus)
Day 8: Ourzazate Ait Benhaddou & Boumalne Dades (Valley of 1000 Kasbahs)
Day 9: Ourzazate -- Kelaa M'Gouna (Valley of the Roses) (bus)
Day 10: Tinehir / Todra Gorge (bus)
Day 11: Merzouga (Sunset camel trek and spend one night in dunes) (try a day tour?)
Day 12: Midelt (by bus)
Day 13: Fes (by bus)
Day 14: Fees
Day 15: Fes (Meknes) (by train)
Day 16: Fes (Volubilis) (by train)
Day 17: Chefchaouen (by bus)
Day 18: Chefchaouen
Day 19: Chefchaouen
Day 20: Marrakech
Day 21: Marrakech (fly out)

I'm much more interested in Fes than Marrakech, but our interests are a little weird, I think, and most more easily accomodated by staying in Marrakesh as a base for day trips mainly: we want to definitely see the Cascade d'Ourzoud with the barbary apes, we absolutely want to see the goats in the argan trees even though this is totally out of the way, and also I very much want to see the Valley of the Roses because I adore roses so much. So not so much your typical travelers, perhaps. We also want to see much Berber culture and the Kasbahs and various souks although I am absolutely not interested in buying anything on this trip, just looking (we have saved for two years to be able to take this trip, penny by penny, so that's just not feasible too). I am a little torn on Chefchaouen, although it is always said to be so beautiful, it seems hard to get to and also, is it mainly just a tourist trap or is there culture there? And we are dying to trek on a camel through Erg Chebbi. But will it be too hot and too out of the way? As you can see, we're basically trying to avoid the more modern cities. We don't have any real interest in these.

A little torn about what to do. This would all be so much easier with a rental car, or a hired car and private driver perhaps, but both seem to add too much to the costs. Maybe another route would make more sense? Maybe there is a private tour I don't know of that isn't too expensive but could accommodate such funny requests? The tour operators I've seen are either too expensive or don't take these routes. Maybe it's easier to hire an automatic than I think it is, or less expensive than I've heard to hire a private driver with a car for a few days to a week?

How would you do this?

Thanks so much!