(note: this is part 1 of 2 total sightings that i experienced within 2 hours of each other. sighting 2 will be posted immediately after this.) i was driving home from charlotte, nc on i-85 heading northbound (actual direction is ne). it was dark, i was driving alone, and all seemed normal. as i was passing exit 70, a flying object appeared over the tree line to my left (north). a few seconds later, another flying object appeared from the same spot on the horizon. both objects were flying along the same flight path heading se. when i first saw the objects i did not think much of them, until i noticed the leading object did not have a strobe light. it was a constant white-yellow colored light that did not change in intensity. however, the following object did have a strobe light, among 1 or 2 other lights that were on that object. it appeared in every way to be a legal, terrestrial aircraft. the distance between the two flying objects was approximately 400-600 feet. both objects maintained this distance the entire time. about 30 seconds later the objects flew over the horizon (east of my position). my overall impression of this first occurrence was that for the most part everything seemed normal. the thought of extraterrestrials only crossed my mind for a second, but i quickly dismissed this because of too many unknowns. although i could not understand why the leading object did not have a strobing light attached to it, as all aircraft that i have seen flying at night have this. this was what peaked my interest, and prompted me to do some research when i arrived home. with the help of the internet i found that the faa, an entity with supreme authority over america's airspace, requires all aircraft to have a strobing light turned on at night. i was puzzled, but continued to go about my usual business as i tried to put the occurrence out of mind. about two hours later, a second incident occurred. this was when i knew for sure that something wasn't right. i am posting it as a separate report since it was at a different time and location.