Alan Gerber wrote:
After a couple of flights where the tower asked me my direction of flight,
after I had already told ground, I realized that communication between ground
and tower isn't all it should be. Now I add those two words to my callup
to the tower, too, unless the frequency is really busy.

Ground and tower have different reasons to wanting to know where you're
going. Ground wants to know which runway to send you to (especially if
your request is for closed traffic). The tower wants to know which way
you're going to turn after departure, so he can plan his traffic flow and
perhaps give you departure instructions.