FOLLOWING RADAR VECTORS; E170 ON DALLAS DEP PROCEEDS DIRECT TXK AFTER TRISS.

Narrative

AFTER DEPARTING DFW WE WERE ON RADAR VECTORS. AFTER SEVERAL TURNS WE WERE GIVEN A HEADING FOR THE TRISS INTXN; TTT/074 DEGS/36 MI. I ASKED ABOUT DIRECT TEXARKANA AND WAS TOLD WE NEEDED TO GO TO TRISS FIRST. I TOOK THAT CLRNC TO MEAN RADAR VECTORS TO TRISS THEN DIRECT TXK. SEVERAL MINS AFTER PASSING TRISS ZFW ASKED IF WE WERE GOING TO SHERO (TTT/074 DEGS/76 MI). MY REPLY WAS NO WE WERE GOING DIRECT TXK. THE ZFW CTLR TOLD ME WE WERE NOT COMPLYING WITH THE DALLAS EIGHT DEP AND 'MAY' HAVE BEEN INVOLVED WITH AN ACFT DEV. (NO TCAS OR VECTOR WAS GIVEN FOR TFC AVOIDANCE.) THEN WE WERE TOLD TO CONTINUE DIRECT TXK. I THEN CONFIRMED THE REST OF OUR RTE TXK.J42.BKW. UPON ARR IN DCA I CALLED ZFW TO DISCUSS THE COMPLIANCE ISSUE. HE SAID THERE WAS NO TFC CONFLICT AND THE DEP BEHIND US ALSO HAD A PROB WITH A SID. I TOLD HIM ABOUT THE CONFUSION WITH THE RTE. I THOUGHT IT WAS TRISS DIRECT TXK AND ZFW THOUGHT TRISS DIRECT SHERO DIRECT TXK. HE SAID THERE WAS NO PROB BUT A RPT WOULD BE SENT TO THE DALLAS FSDO BECAUSE THEY HAVE A LOT OF SID/STAR DEVS AND WANTED TO TRACK AND FIX THE PROB (IE PLT; FMS OR ATC). THIS DEV WAS FROM CONFUSION WITH THE CLRNC. I HAVE FLOWN THIS DEP MANY TIMES FROM DFW AND THIS IS THE FIRST PROB I HAD. IN THE FUTURE I WILL VERIFY; AFTER RADAR VECTORS; TO JOIN THE SID OR FLY DIRECT. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF I CAN PROVIDE ANY ADDITIONAL INFO.