A string of evenly spaced lights, like Japanese lanterns, traveling in a stream across the northern sky, west to east.

I went outside to gather kindling and looked up at the sky as usual. In the northern sky, I noticed a string of evenly spaced lights traveling across the sky from west to east. The lights were orbs, somewhat dim, perhaps due to light pollution, and were going across the sky as if pulled along by a string, like a trail of lights moving across the sky. I ran inside and called my husband out. They were still there when he came to look. He stayed outslde, and I ran inside to grab my phone to film it. By the time I returned, they were gone. My husband reports that they just faded and then disappeared.
It was already dark at night. The sky was clear at the time and several stars were out. There did seem to be a dim line connecting the lights, but I couldn't be sure. I can't actually say how many there were because there were so many going across the sky, single-file. The orbs were white light all shaped and sized the same.
My husband and I live in a rural area alongside a river. Many cows and fields around. The lights came from the direction of a ridge in the northwest that borders our skyline. There was no sound associated with the objects. I am a writer/artist. My husband is a retired plumber.