Two unblinking lights travel in line across the sky in Canton, NY

I took the dog out and was watching the sky.  I saw two bright white lights in the sky.  The sky was clear and stars clearly visible as well as the moon.  The lights were slightly larger and brighter than surrounding stars.   They were not blinking so were not an airplane.  
Also, they could not have been satellites because they were spaced very far apart (holding hand fully outstretched two points of light about 2 inches apart) and most importantly their movements were in sync with each other as one followed the first in a direct path/trajectory and speed (as if two lights on front and back of very long object).  They were traveling SW I believe and were very bright when I first noticed them.  They continued downward toward the horizon and became dimmer as they did so.  This was slow enough for me to consider what I was watching, then run inside and have my wife come out to see just before they disappeared.  Unfortunately she could not find them in the sky/didn’t know! what she was looking for.  I could not make out an object linking the lights but highly doubt that they were meteors or any conventional aircraft.  I could not tell the distance but was very confused, as they seemed almost as stars moving slowly across the sky.  They travelled very close to Orion’s belt and in a similar line.  They were the distance between the lights was also comparable to the length on the three stars which make up Orion’s belt.
On a separate occasion about 2 ¼ yrs. ago, I saw three enormous (full moon) sized orange lights in the night sky driving down rt.11 @7:00PM.  The sky was overcast and there was a full moon behind the clouds. These lights were in front of the clouds and in a perfect line above the horizon toward the south. I was shocked when I saw them and watched them blink out one at a time. The event lasted about 15 seconds. The lights were the same color as a streetlight and had the same type of glow around them.  Appeared as bright and large as a street light from a distance of 75-100 feet.  
I travel this stretch of road between canton and Potsdam everyday and there are no buildings or anything to explain where I saw them.  I have also found many other reports of orange lights in the area, which is a large reason that I wanted to report this sighting.  I don't want to give away too much about my identity so I will just say that I am a faculty member at one of the local universities.