Thanks giving morning, got up at 5:15am to help my older brother get ready to go hunting by my property. my small dog had to go outside to go potty. it was exactly 5:30am when i stepped outside, dark, 20 degrees, very clear sky. i looked up, and was just impressed with the clear conditions and the number of stars. our home is right on the 49th parallel, up in the mountains of eastern washington. no neighbors. as i stood there facing eastward, i looked up again, slightly to my left, north ward, just viewing the stars. i noticed at first three lights, flying in a slight offset pattern, with a four light trailing just behind them. they were moving from west to east. not quickly, about the same speed as a commercial aircraft. so i thought, man, must be a military squadron. then i realized there was additional lights trailing behind the fourth one. as i traced the lights backwards in a westerly direction, i counted more lights. i continued to think, maybe its a large scale military mission doing training. but after i started counting backwards down the continuing line of lights, once i got to 10, i noticed a bunch of lights, same size and brightness, stationary but spread out equally, and the trail of lights were passing directly between them. all at once, those 5 stationary lights, moved one at a time, but quickly into the flight path, aligning themselves with the flight path of the other lights and then started moving off, equally spaced with the other lights. i was in shock, couldn't believe what i was seeing. i then realized, there was more lights, same flight path, same shape, size, brightness still flying along same flight path. i did a quick calculation and picked up counting, as i did so, i trailed the lights back west wards in the sky, thinking i would see them coming from way off. but then i realized, they were all originating from the same spot. there was nothing there, just an empty dark spot in the dark sky. i witnessed one after another come from the same spot. when one would appear, it would appear dimmer, then once it got a certain distance from its origin, it would become bright and continue on the flight path as the others. the pattern continued, i counted 31 bright objects all in a line. at this point, i ran into my house. my wife was in bed, i told her to come outside, she could tell something was up, so didn't ask a question. she came out with me, i pointed to the sky where the lights were still moving. she witnessed 5 more appear from the same blank spot. at that point, i witnessed 36 all together, she witnessed 5, but she did see the line of lights as they continued east ward. the entire thing lasted about 5-7 minutes. during the encounter, and as my spouse watched, we both saw aircraft and i witnessed a satellite. the satellite crossed directly in front of one of the lights. we came into the house after my wife saw 5 lights come from the same dark empty spot. at that point, no more lights were appearing. let me explain more. i was in the military, and also prior law enforcement. if i would have seen 10 lights in a row, i would have thought, maybe just a military mission, but once i witnessed the 5 stationary lights, move into the formation and continue east, then to watch them all appear from out of nothing, all equally spaced and appearing the same, i realized i just witnessed something i can't logically explain. feel free to call me or email.