Two brilliant red lights, side-by-side, moved together, then apart continuing west.

Minutes before 9:00 p.m. (Eastern) on Thursday, October 27, 2011, as I was standing in an open area in front of my home with my two dogs (one adult and a pup), I saw two brilliant, blinking red lights in the south-eastern sky traveling side-by-side (about 3 fingers held up apart) moving straight west.  The lights were more intense than night aircraft I commonly see and were easily noticeable.  The weather was cold and clear with no clouds, no moon, and the stars were bright.  I live in a semi-wilderness/rural portion of the central Upper Peninsula of Michigan, near Lake Superior.
As the two lights approached, they at one point came together, close but did not merge, and flew in that position for about 10 seconds, then parted and flew side-by-side steadily as before, continuing west.  Curious, I waited to see green and/or white lights, such as would be visible on aircraft, but the lights only remained red and blinking.  The blinking lights were not synchronous.
As the duo flew (to my south) and passed my position on the ground still heading west, I expected to hear the usual sound of a jet or motor or helicopter, but my ears picked up no sound whatsoever.  However, just after the lights passed me, my adult dog began to furiously bark and would not stop and my pup as well.  We do have wild predators in our location, so having a hand-held spotlight with me, I began shining the weeds and surrounding forest around us looking for "eyes."  That is when I lost track of the flying red lights, as they probably passed beyond my vision behind the spruce trees to the west.
I took my barking dogs inside, and went out again alone and saw a solitary jet with running lights, flying the same path.  I estimate the speed of the jet was flying a bit slower than the flying red lights (from my observation on the ground), but I have no knowledge of the elevation of the red lights.